Activities and loss of the Atomic Bomb Disaster Survey Team

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, exposing a large number of people to radiation. The roughly 800-bed Ohno Army Hospital neighboring Ohno Village, took in about 100 A-bomb survivors in their central ward, and a further 1500 were treated at the nearby kokumin school (now Ohno West Elementary School).

On August 27, Chugoku Military District Headquarters requested that Kyoto University send researchers to investigate the extent of A-bomb damage to survivors and to urgently formulate countermeasures. The University responded immediately by dispatching to Hiroshima a team led by Faculty of Medicine professors. Physicists from the Faculty of Science also joined the team. The team was headquartered at Ohno Army Hospital from September 3, where it carried out treatment and research.

At around 22:30 on September 17, however, Makurazaki Typhoon hit the Hiroshima region, causing a mountain avalanche which instantly destroyed the middle part of Ohno Army Hospital, sweeping it over the Sanyo Honsen railway tracks into the sea.

The disaster took the lives of 156 people—almost all the A-bomb survivors hospitalized there as well as staff. Casualties included Kyoto University Prof. Toshikazu Mashimo (internal medicine), Prof. Shigeki Sugiyama (pathology) and 11 other members of the survey team, who had devoted time and energy to researching and developing countermeasures for the A-bomb damage.